Cleo Smith is pictured in a detective's arms 18 days after went missing from a Western Australian campsite
Cleo Smith emerged from what the world feared was an 18-day nightmare with her honey-blonde hair neatly brushed, her clothes clean and fresh, looking just like a real living doll.
The bubbly four-year-old had been found in a locked bedroom, playing with toys, in the middle of the night with the lights turned on.
Since being reunited with her family Cleo has appeared to be the happy little girl she was before her ordeal, kissing and cuddling her mother and stepfather.
Her alleged abductor, doll collector Terrence Darrell Kelly, has been charged with one count of forcibly taking a child under 16, but has so far not been publicly accused of doing the child further physical harm.
Kelly is before the courts, entitled to a presumption of innocence and his alleged motives are so far not known.
But amateur sleuths cannot help combining what little is known about Kelly's interests with the few details revealed of Cleo's missing days to speculate she was treated as some sort of toy.
They are asking whether Cleo found herself trapped in the fantasy world of a loner seemingly fixated on plastic figurines - a walking, talking, living doll.
Cleo Smiths's alleged abductor, Terry Kelly, has been charged with one count of forcibly taking a child under 16, but has so far not been publicly accused of doing the child further physical harm. He is pictured shortly before being flown from Carnarvon to Perth on Friday
Doll collector Kelly is entitled to a presumption of innocence and his alleged motives are so far not known. But amateur sleuths cannot help speculating Cleo was treated as some sort of toy. Kelly is pictured in a Bratz T-shirt with two of the fashion figurines
Kelly is not on a list of known sex offenders in Carnarvon and police allege he acted alone. One social media account linked to Kelly shows images of a room stacked floor to ceiling with dolls
Kelly appears to have a particular fascination with Bratz fashion dolls and one of the brand's four original figurines released 20 years ago was a blonde, almond-eyed teenager called Cloe.
Cleo Smith has a seven-month sister called Isla. In the elaborate make-believe Bratz universe Cloe the doll has a little sister named Isa.
Kelly, 36, lived alone in public housing at Carnarvon, 900km north of Perth, where Cleo was found about 1am on Wednesday.
Kelly appears to have a particular fascination with Bratz fashion dolls. One of the popular brand's four original figurines was a blonde, almond-eyed girl called Cloe (pictured)
He is accused of kidnapping Cleo from a tent at the Blowholes camping ground, 75km north of his home, on September 16 while she holidayed with her family.
Detectives have not yet established if Cleo was kept at Kelly's house for all the time she was away from her parents.
Kelly is not on a list of known sex offenders in Carnarvon and police allege he acted alone.
He was not home when detectives broke into the property and rescued Cleo, who fell asleep in her mother's arms when they were reunited.
Police have said Kelly was not known to Cleo's family but his house is just 3km from their home.
Since Kelly's arrest it has been revealed he was obsessed with dolls and he was spotted a week ago with a car full of children's toys, a neighbour told Daily Mail Australia.
Henry Dodd said the brand new dolls were still in their packaging 'as if they had been collected from the post office'.
'There were around ten or twelve dolls... and it looked like he had picked them up after they were delivered somewhere,' Mr Dodd said on Thursday.
'You could see them in their boxes like he ordered them online. They were all piled in the back of his car.
'I thought it was weird. But I didn't know anything about him collecting dolls or anything. I didn't know he had a whole room full of them in his house.
'We didn't know that until it [was reported] today.'
Since being reunited with her family Cleo has appeared to be the happy little girl she was before her ordeal, kissing and cuddling her mother and stepfather. Cleo is pictured before her disappearance
Ae social media account linked to Kelly shows pictures of him driving around town carrying dolls. 'I love my dolls', one post reads. 'I love taking my dolls for drive arounds and doing their hair and taking selfies in public,' says another
Cleo Smith emerged from what the world feared was an 18-day nightmare with her honey-blonde hair neatly
